


Soot: Unsolved

by Alienu



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Adventure, College AU, Comedy, Demons, Dream might be a demon, Dysfunctional Students, Gen, Ghost Hunters, Ghosts, I am incredibly sleep deprived, IM IN PAIN, No Angst, No Romance, Not Beta Read, Only partly, Supernatural Elements, Swearing, guys i really tried please give me kudos, its not my fault okay, love how i say i wont upload for a while and then post 2 stories haha, someone tell me how to write funny moments, this title is very creative i know i know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27195256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alienu/pseuds/Alienu
Summary: Maybe letting a group of dysfunctional college students—one who may just be a demon—go ghost hunting was a bad idea."Hey there demons, it's me, ya boy!"
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit
Comments: 31
Kudos: 569
Collections: MCYT





	Soot: Unsolved

**Author's Note:**

> i stayed up till 2 am writing this
> 
> writing is pain but at least you guys are getting fed

Wilbur doesn’t know how he’s gotten to this point.

It started out as a joke, really.

He wasn’t really serious when he agreed to Niki’s suggestion of ghost hunting. Wilbur had been under the impression that she was joking, as he wasn’t the kind of person to believe in ghosts and such. It turns out that she wasn’t, however, because long after he hung up the call, he received a text from her asking if he had all the needed materials. It’s not like he was strongly opposed to the idea of ‘ghost hunting’ either, so at the time he’d shrugged with a thought of ‘why not?’ and asked for a list. She had happily provided it so he went out buying everything. The only thing that was left was a location—which he had easily found—and a date. It was only supposed to be him and Niki. But then Dream had caught wind of it and expressed interest in tagging along, then goaded George into coming to prove he wasn’t a scaredy cat, and suddenly Phil was sending Techno too because “knowing Wilbur, he’s gonna get himself killed” and so now they had a whole group of people.

The first time had been fun and interesting enough for Wilbur to ask the group—they’d ended up making a group chat for the sole purpose of what was supposed to be the one time ghost hunting adventure—if they’d be interested in doing it again. One time had turned into two, then three, then four, and eventually it was a routinely thing that they’d do at least once or twice a month. Techno eventually opted out of the whole ghost hunting thing, as he never really wanted to do it in the first place and Phil decided that Wilbur was less likely to get himself murdered or possessed than he originally thought. Fundy ended up joining the party as a result, which may have been a mistake seeing as he had a bad tendency to provoke the spirits. It did make it a lot of fun though, even if Wilbur did get scared shitless a lot more than he would have wanted at the time.

So here they are, a group of dysfunctional college students on their 6th(?) official ghost hunting adventure, this time heading to some old office building. Two who are total scaredy cats (Niki and George, if that wasn’t clear), one who’s probably a demon (they prefer not to talk about the time they ventured to a church and Dream got a third degree burn from touching the so-called holy water), a skeptic (Wilbur, as ironic as it sounds), and a foul-mouthed furry (Fundy). 

This will be fun.

Dream literally body slams the door open the second he gets out of the car, lugging the spirit box with him with a shout of, “Let’s get this bread!” 

Fundy follows closely after, looking around curiously. Wilbur rolls his eyes, tuning out the crickets that chirp loudly in his ears, and helps Niki and George gather the rest of the equipment. He’s beginning to feel like Dream’s babysitter.

The office is eerily quiet. The rooms are bare of any furniture, a thin layer of dust covering the floor and a few old papers scattered around. It looks as if nobody had been here in ages, which is probably true as Wilbur had done his research, and according to his sources it had been abandoned a good six months ago. Which means it’s more than likely there’ll be a ghost or two around here, right? They decide to set up in the lobby. He listens to Niki hum as she shows Fundy how to set the camera up, watches George chase Dream down as he darts from room to room with the EMF meter, and prays that this is not the trip that’s going to get one (or all) of them killed. Or possessed. 

“All good over here!” Niki chirps, gesturing to the camera with a triumphant grin on her face. George returns, dragging Dream along with the EMF meter in hand and looking like he already wants to go home. Wilbur doesn’t blame him. Being awake at three in the morning is never pleasant, even if he did send out an early notice for everyone to get a lot of sleep in preparation. 

“Alright!” He claps his hands together in an effort to get everyone to pay attention. “We have everything we need, yeah? So without further ado, let’s get down to business.”

——

Tommy doesn’t mind being a ghost all that much.

Getting to fly through walls is kind of cool. Flying in general is pretty cool. It had taken him a while to get used to the strange abilities that came with the whole ‘being dead’ package, but overall he considered himself a pretty great ghost. Though he will admit that he’d be having a lot less fun if it weren’t for Tubbo, his best friend. Tubbo acts like he doesn’t approve of Tommy’s love for scaring the everloving shit out of people, but Tommy knows he does because the brunette isn’t very good at stifling his giggles whenever it happens. It’s far too much fun watching people jump out of their skin every time Tommy knocks over something, or touches them to give them goosebumps and make their hairs stand on end. Scaring people is kind of his habit now. 

This Wilbur guy is really something else though. A ‘skeptic’ hunting for ghosts? Comical. Tommy wonders how long it’ll take before this batch of ‘hunters’ flee. There used to be some teens that came in here to smoke and screw around, but they had left pretty quickly once Tommy had knocked a phone out of one of a girl’s hands. They’d been fun to mess with too, so it was sort of disappointing when they stopped showing up. On the contrary, these people seem way more equipped to actually detect ghosts than others that would stop by once every full moon. They had equipment and everything.

“What is that?” Tubbo peers down at the small box with green lights on it. Tommy floats closer, looking at the strange device. The few times ‘ghost hunters’ came to this building, all of them had been equipped with this device. He never got too close to this one, as he didn’t know exactly what it did and didn’t want to take any chances. Tubbo, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to share the same caution. He waves an experimental hand over it, watching in awe as one of the green lights flickers to life.

He shrugs, pulling Tubbo’s hand back. He’s halfway sure that if they get too close it’ll start beeping, and he didn’t want that just yet. “Dunno. Ghost sensor or some shit.”

“Oh.” Tubbo says simply. He moves away from it. Tommy turns his attention back towards the group of people. Wilbur is still explaining whatever lore about this building he had snatched off the internet, the others looking a little creeped out at the recounts of paranormal events he was informing them about. Tommy listens along boredly, only becoming really interested when he begins to talk about the stairs.

“My sources said that, a long time ago, there was an accident at the stairwell. Some guys were moving furniture around the floors, and while they were lugging a sofa down, one of the guys lost their footing and fell down. The other couldn’t keep hold of it and lost grip, and the sofa ended up crushing the poor guy to death.” 

The blond and black haired one—Niki, Tommy remembers Wilbur saying her name—holds a hand up to her mouth. “That’s terrible.” she whispers. Wilbur nods, looking grim.

“Apparently, ever since that accident, people have been reporting seeing pools of blood on the place where the guy died.” Tommy scoffs. What kind of ghost is bored enough to do that? Wilbur continues, “There’s a superstition that if you step on the fifth step anytime between ten pm to six am, the next time you walk a flight of stairs, something terrible is going to happen.”

Tommy takes in the expressions of Wilbur’s friends. The blond wearing the green hoodie looks far too cheerful to not have some sort of death wish. That or he doesn’t believe in the paranormal. The brunette beside him wearing those stupid clout goggles looks nervous, as if he does, but at the same time doesn’t believe what Wilbur had said. He’s the one that was yelling at Green a lot. The one with the fox on his shirt looks bored. Tommy makes a mental note to be extra hard on him. Meanwhile, Niki has an expression of both sympathy and fear. Reasonable emotions.

“Alright, let's go to the stairs!” The green one exclaims, and before any of the others can protest he’s pulling Goggles and Fox Man towards the other side of the building, where the staircase presumably is. Wilbur sighs, looking exasperated, but picks up the spirit box and the EMF reader and trudges along. 

The two ghosts follow after them, curious to see as to what would go down. As far as Tommy knew, there weren’t any other dead people around this building. Whatever ghost—or demon, based off the rumor—that might have been here must’ve moved on a long while ago. Tommy watches in amusement as Goggles shouts at Green to stop, that it was a bad idea, and yet he doesn’t listen. They reach the staircase and Green lets Goggles and Fox Man out of his grip to stare at the steps in trepidation.

“Well,” he sighs, looking far too sad than he should be, “there’s no blood here. Kind of disappointing.” Wilbur rolls his eyes.

“That doesn’t mean there isn’t anything here,” he reminds the younger. Tommy frowns, peering over his shoulder as he fiddles with something on the temperature reader. “Don’t tell me you’re gonna test the rumor.”

“Well,” Green whistles, looking as if he were genuinely debating it, “now that you gave me the idea…”

“Dream!” Goggles gapes, “You’ve got to be joking.”

“What?” ‘Dream’ shrugs. “Someone’s gotta do it.”

“Oh for the love of—No one has to do it!” Goggles face palms for what seems like the fifth time since they got here. “You’re an actual idiot.” 

Tommy watches them begin an argument, voices getting progressively louder. He shrugs, figuring now is a good time to start the scaring, and floats over to where Wilbur is walking around with the EMF meter in hand. He grins, one hand reaching for the box-like object. “Hey Tubbo, watch this.” 

The blond taps the box once, watching in delight as all five lights brighten immediately. So it is a ghost sensor. Wilbur freezes, eyes wide as he watches the lights slowly go out until it’s back to the simple one green. Tommy experimentally waves a hand over it, watching as the lights brighten up again, this time only three of them activating. He laughs as Wilbur whirls around. 

“This,” He says to Tubbo, who observes curiously, “is where the fun begins.”

——

“I’m going!” Dream declares determinedly. He ignores George’s shouts and Niki’s protest, placing one foot on the first step. 

Wilbur stares blankly at the EMF reader in his hands, turning towards the others. “Hey, guys.” He swallows back the nervousness bubbling up in his throat. There’s no way that it was actually a ghost. No way. But the evidence is—it’s there. Everyone ignores him, too busy watching Dream potentially get himself cursed. He sighs, trying to ignore the chills that shoot up his spine. “Guys!”

“Two!” Dream gleefully bounces up to the second step, a shit-eating stretching across his face.

“Dream, you are a fucking idiot!” George screams, while Niki claps a hand over her mouth.

“Three! Come out come out wherever you are, demons!” 

“Guys, I just got a level five-”

“Four!”

“Man,” Fundy scoffs, “if nothing happens then this demon is a fucking pussy.”

Niki gasps, “Fundy, stop provoking it!”

“I’m just saying!”

Dream stops at the fourth step, craning his head to stare at the others. George has his face in his hands, while Fundy is watching boredly, and Niki looks apprehensive. Wilbur sighs. He didn’t really want to get to this point.

“Five bucks says this demon won’t do shit.” Dream lifts his leg. Wilbur inhales sharply.

“Guys, I just got a level five EMF reading!”

Silence. 

Finally. He holds the EMF meter up, shifting a bit as everyone’s gazes turn to him. “I got a level five reading. And then a level three. There might actually be something here.”

George frowns, “Are you sure that it wasn’t just-”

“No, no.” He shakes his head furiously, “They happened too close together to be a malfunction or misread.” He hates this already. Wilbur doesn’t really have a plan for if some malicious ghost decides it wants to recreate the Ghostbusters movies. He’s suddenly acutely aware of the way his hairs are standing on end, aware of the way that this building is filled with the stale smell of dust and what’s probably rat poop, aware of the way they were far from the exit and if a demon really does reside here it would have far too many opportunities to take them out.

“Should we leave?” Niki asks worriedly. Dream shakes his head furiously, eyes alight with excitement at the news. He, Wilbur decides, is way too fucking casual about this. Not that it’s any different from any other time, but one of these days Dream’s carelessness is going to get them killed, cursed, possessed, or haunted. Maybe all of those. 

Actually, Wilbur would be surprised if they weren’t doomed by now. 

Fundy glances around, “So where is it?” He shrugs, motioning around the hallway.

“Somewhere here. It’s gotta be.” He reasons, waving the EMF reader around again. Wilbur hears the sound of Dream leaping off the staircase, landing on the ground floor with a small ‘hup!’ of effort. 

“Let's use the spirit box,” Dream suggests helpfully, “then we can decide whether this ghost is peaceful or evil.” The older brunette pretends not to hear the muttered ‘but it would be more fun if it was evil’ that is whispered under his breath, and nods. Dream catches the small device when it is tossed at him, pulling the metal receiver up to its full height. The spirit box crackles to life. The blond clears his throat, speaking loudly, “Alright! Hello? Ghost? We just wanna say hi!”

There’s a moment where it’s just static, Dream holding the spirit box up in the air and hoping for something to speak. Wilbur startles when the EMF meter beeps loudly, shooting to a level four reading before it slowly dwindles back to one, like something had brushed by on its way to Dream. 

“Hello,” the spirit box says. Wilbur’s eyes widen.

Holy shit.

——

“Hello.” Tommy says into the loud box for the third time. It’s so fucking annoying to having to get this close to talk to the thing. The static is loud, it barely picks up anything, and he has to raise his voice over it just to get one simple word through. One would think that with how advanced society is compared to a few years ago, they’d invest a little more in making good technology to communicate with the dead.

Tubbo peers over his shoulder, “Woah, they can hear us?” He pokes at the box curiously, observing the long metal stick that juts out of it. 

“Yeah.” Tommy scoffs, “It’s shit, though.” He turns his attention to the group to gouge their reactions.

Goggles looks like he’s about to pee himself just from his simple message. Tommy observes in delight as Niki shuffles closer to a wide eyed Wilbur, fear evident in the way she grabs tightly onto his sleeve. They’re already about to piss their pants and he’s barely done anything! This will be so much fun.

“So,” Dream starts. He looks so unfazed by the simple hello. Tommy scowls as he continues, “what’s your name?”

“Who cares what the fuck its name is?” Fox Man raises an eyebrow. “If it’s evil, the last thing we should be concerned about is it’s name.”

“Fundy,” Wilbur sighs, “you being rude to the ghost isn’t exactly helping our case.”

‘Fundy’ shrugs. He seems like the kind of person who would scream profanities when he gets scared. Tommy moves over to him, observing to see if there was anything he could use to test his theory. A cell phone in the back pocket. He tugs at it experimentally, watching as it falls out and clatters to the floor. Fundy flinches and jumps away. “What the fuck?”

“Told you,” Wilbur says pointedly, “you’re annoying it.”

Dream scowls, “Alright, shut up.” Fundy picks up his phone, looking a bit more nervous than before, so Tommy decides to leave him alone for the time being and floats back over to the spirit box. Dream looks around, as if he’d be able to spot the two dead teenagers, then says loudly. “So, ghost, are you evil?” 

Tommy looks at Tubbo, unsure of what to say. The shorter ghost shrugs, so he opts to not answer, instead picking up the spirit box and tossing it at the wall. He cackles at the scream Niki lets out as it makes a loud slam, clattering to the ground uselessly. 

“Why’d you break it?” Tubbo looks upset, poking at the detached pieces mournfully. “They probably spent money on that.”

“Yeah? Well it was shit anyway.” he retorts, ignoring the deadpan look his friend shoots him. “If anything I did them a favor. Now they can go buy a better one.”

“That’s just…” He pauses, “that’s just mean.”

“Shut up, Tubbo.” Tommy huffs. He knows that Tubbo knows he doesn’t really mean it. It’s just their thing, where Tommy acts all bossy and in return Tubbo pretends like he believes Tommy hates him. It’s actually kind of funny most of the time. The other ghost rolls his eyes, watching as Tommy phases a hand through Goggles to give him chills. Goggles jumps, looking around anxiously.

“Guys, I think we should leave,” he says nervously. 

Dream makes a face, “C’mon, we just got here—what—thirty minutes ago? Don’t be a wuss, George.” 

“I’m not a wuss!” George scowls, “I just don’t want to get killed, unlike you, who thinks provoking literal demons is fun.” 

“Wuss!” Fundy calls.

“Guys, lets not fight,” Wilbur sighs as he picks up the remains of what used to be their spirit box. “It looks like the ghost doesn’t really want to talk, so it’s best we leave.” Tommy frowns, watching the others murmur agreement—-aside from Dream, who sighs reluctantly—and start towards the lobby. George keeps a wary eye out. He looks anxious, much to Tommy’s satisfaction, and that’s enough to prompt the blond to play just a few more tricks on them. Touching the EMF reader unexpectedly a few times gives the group enough of a spook to get them to walk faster. Phasing his hand through them prompts them to start looking around nervously. Tommy makes a show of darting ahead—Tubbo hates that Tommy always flies faster than him—to make a few faces at the camera before snickering and knocking it over. He knows that next to nothing will show up on the footage, the maximum maybe being two faint orbs resembling his eyes, and it makes him proud to see the wide-eyed look on most of their faces as they return to the lobby.

“What the fuck—FUCK YOU GHOST!” Fundy yelps when Tommy pulls his phone out of his pocket again, letting it land on the ground noisily. Tubbo laughs at the reaction, whilst Fundy’s friends shush him with narrowed eyes. Niki, looking like she is about to shit herself, gathers up the knocked over camera as well as the rest of their supplies, stuffing most of it into the black bag they had brought along. A part of Tommy is sad to see them already leaving. Their reactions are comical.

Tommy grins, turning to Tubbo, “What do you say we follow them back to wherever they’re going?”

Tubbo looks at him weirdly, “Why? Haven’t you tortured them enough?” 

“Well, maybe,” he admits, “but it’s funny! C’mon, you’ve gotta admit it was pretty fucking funny. The George guy looked like he was about to piss his pants.” He laughs a little at the memory. Tubbo rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t say anything and is smiling nonetheless, so Tommy takes that as a sign that he did think it was amusing.

“Alright,” Wilbur gestures to the empty lobby, “we got everything?”

“Yeah, let’s get the fuck out of here.” George answers. He looks around nervously, as if he expects some sort of demon to jump out at any given moment. Which, Tommy will admit, is not a particularly unreasonable feeling. The only problem is that he isn’t a demon—which is something he complains about on a daily basis, Tubbo can confirm—so his scaring abilities are annoyingly limited. The most he can do is phase through people, giving them chills in the process, and move around some stuff. He can’t make loud thumps on walls, he can’t scream in someone's ear, he isn’t the corporeal kind of spirit that can manifest a body whenever he likes. It’s annoying, but he makes do with what he has, and Tommy likes to think he does a pretty damn good job with his limited capabilities.

The group makes their way to the door, taking one last look around the musky, old building. Unlike the others, Fundy lingers at the door. 

“Go fuck yourself, ghost!” He shouts, closing the door immediately after. Tommy laughs at that—he really did do a good job at pissing the man off—and decides then that he’s not done with them yet.

“Let’s follow them.” 

Tubbo shrugs. Why not? It’s not like they had much to do, being dead and all. “Okay.”

**Author's Note:**

> leave kudos and comments or perish
> 
> also follow my twitter @Alienu_ i post sneak peeks there sometimes and I'm sort of funny


End file.
